ground, or through ravines and hollows, had now suddenly become of a
tropical heat.

"Where are we?" enquired Don Manuel of his bearer, as the latter at last
sat him down upon his feet.

"_Callad!_ Silence!" replied the Indian, pointing down into the depth
below, from which a shout was heard, scarcely audible in the noise of the
torrent. "_Callad!_" he repeated, as he fixed his lasso dexterously under
Don Manuel's arms, and, lifting him over a rock, lowered him to a depth of
thirty feet. Himself following by the like means, he perched the young man
upon his shoulders in the same unceremonious manner as before, and began a
rapid descent into the frightful barranca.

"_Vigilancia!_" cried a voice. "Half a foot's breadth and no more; the
Virgin help those who require a whole one."

"_Silencio!_" commanded a second speaker. "Caballitos for the Creoles; a
good journey to the Gachupins."

The warning and the command had alike reference to an unhewn tree-trunk
thrown across the gulf that was now to be traversed. The order had hardly
been given, when Manuel found himself transferred to the shoulders of a
fresh Indian, who, without looking to the right or left, trotted, rather
than walked over the perilous bridge. In the awful chasm beneath them, the
water chafed and roared, concealed from view by the most luxuriant foliage
and creeping plants. On the further side of the bridge, several Indians
were already standing.

"_Eres Criollo?_ Are you a Creole?" said a rough voice in rear of Don
Manuel, and then the shaking of the tree-trunk gave notice that a second
caballito, with a man upon his back, was accomplishing the dangerous
passage. Again the question was put, but this time the answer was scarcely
out of the mouth of the unfortunate Spaniard, when the exclamation of
"_Maldito, Gachupin!_" and an agonized cry of "_Jesus Maria y Jose!_" were
accompanied by a heavy fall and rattle amongst the branches. Manuel, who
was now in safety on the farther side of the barranca, gazed shudderingly
after the unhappy wretch, whose death scream rose shrill and wild from the
depths of the abyss. Before he had time to utter a word, he was again
seized and carried along as rapidly and unceremoniously as if he had been
a child of two years' old. A few more single shrieks were heard, each more
faint and distant, until at last they ceased altogether.

The heat of the _terra caliente_, which the party had recently entered,
began to change rap